SF Fed’s Janet Yellen contender for Federal Reserve’s vice chair
This is most likely the best choice available to the Fed. Janet Yellen is a known quantity and should do a good job at the Vice Chairmanship. Ms. Yellen will have a huge job ahead of her, we have a massive amount of liquidity in the U.S. banking sector that will need to be withdrawn or we will see inflation on the rise when all that cash goes into some asset class.
Reuters, Washington D.C. - San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Janet Yellen is a leading contender to be nominated by President Barack Obama as vice chair of the central bank, a senior administration official said on Friday.
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Donald Kohn to Leave Fed at End of Term as Vice Chairman
Who Obama chooses as his replacement will be very important and is to be watched. Vice Chairman Kohn has been an establishment at the Federal Reserve for over four decades. Even though I personally have issue with many of the policies responses in crisis, Donald does have a wealth of knowledge after being near the helm for over 40 years and they will lose some of that wisdom when he steps down at the end of his term. Mr. President choose wisely, the markets will be watching very closely.
Vice Chairman of the Fed
Business Week - Donald Kohn will leave the Federal Reserve at the end of his four-year term as vice chairman after helping Ben S. Bernanke and Alan Greenspan steer the U.S. through recessions and crises.
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Fed keeps key interest rates steady despite board member’s disapproval
Interesting they are still keeping interest rates low for an “extended period” even though we are in a recovery. They must know something we don’t. They called the recovery moderate for sometime and that tells me that the earnings will not keep up with where the market is priced so we should see a correction.
LA Times - Washington D.C. - Reporting from Washington - Amid the political rancor over Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s bid for a second term, central bank officials encountered some dissension in their first policy-setting meeting of the year, even as they affirmed their pledge to keep interest rates at near zero for “an extended period.”
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The Federal Reserve Made $52 Billion In 2009
The Federal Reserve reaped quite a nice reward for its rescue efforts during the financial crisis. According to its preliminary unaudited 2009 results, the central bank made a whopping $52.1 billion in profit. Somewhere, Ron Paul’s blood is boiling. But before populist outrage at these profits take hold, let’s consider a few things.
First, the vast, vast majority of these profits are going back to taxpayers — $46.1 billion. As the release says:
Under the Board’s policy, the Reserve Banks are required to transfer their net income to the U.S. Treasury after providing for the payment of statutory dividends to member banks and equating surplus to paid-in capital.
Those statutory dividends were $1.4 billion, while the surplus capital was $4.6 billion. Taxpayers get the rest.
So the first point is that taxpayers actually benefit from the Fed’s profits. A lot. They got 89% of its net income. As a taxpayer, I’m pretty happy about that.
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Fed’s Donald Kohn wants to use low interest rates to encourge people into riskier assets
I love the opening line of this press release: The Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policy is meant to encourage investors to move into riskier assets in order to promote economic recovery. Let me translate this, we have chosen to punish savers by making interest rates at close to zero so instead of investing in U.S. treasuries which are considered the “safest” form of investment we want you to speculate on risky investments in the middle of a “jobless recovery” that sounds suspiciously like a recession. I don’t see how getting people to invest in other assets is somehow connected to making credit easier to access. Interest rates clearly don’t reflect the real risk in the economy at present.
Reuters, Chicago - The Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policy is meant to encourage investors to move into riskier assets in order to promote economic recovery, and there are no signs currently the policy is resulting in the build-up of a U.S. asset bubble, the central bank’s number-two official said on Monday.
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Federal Reserve cracks down on gift card abuses right before the holidays
Its great that now after the public found out about the absolute lack of consumer protection and enforcement in the U.S., we are now seeing all of these rules and regulations coming into place. I guess better late than never. I still don’t see any real reform gaining traction or what is coming down the pipe is getting watered down or having the teeth pulled out.
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Federal Reserve Sees No Need to Raise Interest Rates Soon
Until we see the government support of the economy withdrawn and the economy shows it can operate normally without that intervention, we will not see rates raising anytime soon.
The Fed does not see inflation as a threat at this point as well. The stock market is rising rapidly and with the amount of money and credit that has been pumped into the market with low interest rates, it is not surprise we are seeing these increases. The test will be, can these companies make their earnings and conduct their normal financing operations is the normal regulated private market.
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